DE 10 2004 053 248 A1 discloses a hood with an outer skin and a stiffening structure covered by the outer skin. The stiffening structure includes a frame that is deep-drawn from flat material and a plate mounted in an opening of the frame. Nubs are recessed into the plate each of which receives a foam material body, in order to offer support for the foam material arranged between this plate and the outer skin.
On one hand, a body hood should on the one hand be sturdy enough with least possible weight in order to absorb slight impacts during usage without damage. On the other hand, the legal regulations regarding pedestrian protection, however, result in stringent requirements regarding the deformation behavior of the hood, by way of which a pedestrian impacting on the hood is to be protected from striking through non-deformable parts of the vehicle located under the hood because of the impact. These requirements are difficult to fulfill in particular in the case of small cars, wherein the distance between the hood and the non-deformable parts locating below is particularly small. Weight reduction is achievable in that parts which are conventionally produced from steel are replaced by corresponding parts made of aluminum or plastic, but such replacement generally also results in increased resilience. When consequently the hood is already damaged in the case of mild impacts, this brings high maintenance costs with it for the user. If the increased resilience by contrast results in that in the case of a pedestrian accident the head of the pedestrian strikes through onto non-deformable body parts, this excludes the vehicle concerned being approved for road use.